Construction and gaming cubes
This invention generally relates to a set of parallelepipedal bodies (cubes) capable of matingly compatible engagement for interconnection with substantially similar cubes or matingly conformed rails, so as to allow up to three degrees of freedom in the sliding movement of an individual cube or grouping of cubes about a grouping of other interconnected cells from the set. Each cube is constructed from six plates with an interior physical configuration adapted for connection and that lends itself to monolithic injection molding. The exterior physical configuration of all plates are substantially similar. When a number of cubes are assembled into a cubic array, there can be slab movement, row movement or solo cube movement.
This application is a continuation-in-part of application claiming benefit under 35 U.S.C. §121 U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No. 11/801,904 filed May 11, 2007. The benefit of which is claimed, is considered to be a part of the disclosure of the accompanying application and is hereby incorporated herein its entirety by reference.
TECHNICAL FIELDThis invention generally relates to a set of cubes, or generally parallelepipedal bodies and matingly conformed rails, capable of sliding engagement so as to allow variable single cube movement and placements within an array of substantially similar cubes and or rails. These cubes form excellent building blocks for hand puzzles and structural construction sets as well as lending themselves to adaptation for a plethora of other uses including slidingly engagable housings for electromagnetic motor drives.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates to a set of unique parallelepipedal cubes, capable of a hollow core construction. Each cube has six plates, the internal faces of which may matingly interlock in a synergistic design for assembly. In its simplest form, there is only one plate used in the assembly of each cube. This plate can be injection molded in one piece. In another embodiment only two different plates are required to form a cube. The exterior faces of the two plates are substantially similar in physical configuration and are rectangular, however the interior faces differ in the arrangement and number of linear members and slots used for the assembly of the cube.
The exterior face design is such that all exterior faces matingly interlock for sliding engagement. In this manner the cubes are free to move about each other individually or in groupings, generally with three degrees of freedom, i.e., movement is allowed in each of the X, Y and Z axis.
The interlocking design on the interior face of each face plate maximizes the amount of hollow interior space while providing for a rigid unibody design wherein the strength of the cell is a synergistic function of all six face plates. The ease of fabrication and plethora of applicable uses are some of this invention's stronger features.
When a multitude of cubes are assembled into an array, preferably cubic, there can be slab movement, row movement, or solo cube movement.
This invention's design overcomes the drawbacks of the prior art in that it greatly simplifies the mass fabrication of the cubes as well as the ease of arranging cube groupings about another cube or cube grouping.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn accordance with the invention, an object of the present invention is to provide an improved, enclosed hollow body cube, constructed with a minimum of generally planar plates.
It is another object of this invention to provide a cube for use in a portable puzzle where each of the cube's six faces can be cheaply and simply fabricated and assembled.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a set of enclosed body parallelepipedal cubes that is comprised of a single cube exterior face orientation yet still allowing each cube kinematic compatibility in up to three degrees of freedom.
It is yet a further object of this invention to provide a hollow body parallelepipedal cube constituting a minimum use of different components.
The subject matter of the present invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of this specification. However, both the organization and method of operation, together with further advantages and objects thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following description taken in connection with accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters refer to like elements. Other objects, features and aspects of the present invention are discussed in greater detail below.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of descriptions and should not be regarded as limiting.
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Referring to
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In
It is known that the Ts and ½ T posts (See
It is to be noted that both ends of the T post 8 are cantilevered or extend beyond the edges of face plate 4 or 6. The amount of cantilever of each end is not equal. It is this feature of the design that forces the use of two sets of three each, mirror image plates. If there were no cantilever, the assembly of the cube 2 would require but six substantially similar face plates. It is this cantilever feature that allows for a truer alignment between the faces of adjacent cubes. In this fashion, sliding cubes will always remain guided by the T posts thereby avoiding jamming.
Since the first face plate 4 and the second face plate 6 are mirror images of each other, they have substantially similar length and width dimensions and are rectangular, but are not square. The length of each face plate is defined as the dimension parallel to the longitudinal axis of the slots and Ts thereon and is the largest single physical dimension of the face plates. The width of each face plate is defined as the dimension perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the Ts and slots thereon. The width of each face plate is shorter than the length of each face plate by two times the thickness of the face plate. This allows for the cube 2 to be a regular hexahedron with each visible face having a square configuration when all face plates are assembled into a monolithic structure as the length dimension of each face plate resides adjacent to the width dimension of each adjacent face plate at all edges of the cube 2.
The alternate embodiments have differing methods of connection and alignment dictated by the different configurations of their interior faces. All cube embodiments have substantially similar exterior faces and are virtually indistinguishable when assembled.
The interior face of the face plates of the first alternate embodiment as illustrated in
The interior face of the face plates of the second alternate embodiment as illustrated in
It is to be noted that the length of linear assembly members 25 may be varied in this second alternate embodiment for ease of assembly or material costs as illustrated in
The interior face of the face plates of the third alternate embodiment as illustrated in
The interior face of the face plates of the fourth alternate embodiment is illustrated in
The following table explains the plate types and their assembly.
With the aforementioned design and embodiments, it is possible to fabricate the face plates as monolithic components with such methods as injection molding. This greatly reduces the cost of fabrication as compared to prior art designs.
It is also known that a matingly engageable dovetail formation of a dovetail T post 50, dovetail ½ T post 52, dovetail T slot 54 and dovetail ½ T slot 56 may be utilized as an optional embodiment to any of the plates illustrated and described herein (See
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The above description will enable any person skilled in the art to make and use this invention. It also sets forth the best modes for carrying out this invention. There are numerous variations and modifications thereof that will also remain readily apparent to others skilled in the art, now that the general principles of the present invention have been disclosed.
Claims
1. A regular hexahedron comprised of:
- six rectangular plates each having a rectangular top surface and a rectangular bottom surface and having a dimension of length and a dimension of width, wherein said dimension of length exceeds said dimension of width and wherein there is a plate width axis and a plate length axis, and wherein said bottom surface has two length edges, two width edges and an offset raised rectangular platform formed thereon, wherein said platform has a smaller surface area than a rectangular plate's surface area and has a center that is offset from a center of said rectangular plate; and wherein said platform and said bottom surface share a common edge such that there is symmetry about the plate width axis; and
- wherein said length axis of each said rectangular plate resides perpendicular to said length axis of all rectangular plates with which it shares a single, common edge.
2. The regular hexahedron of claim 1 wherein said all rectangular plates have a substantially similar top surface having a “Tee” (T) shaped post traversing the length of said top surface and residing parallel to, but offset from, a longitudinal axis residing in the length dimension of said top surface, and a ½ “Tee” (½ T) shaped post residing parallel to said “Tee” (T) shaped post and adjacent to a top length edge such that a complementary inverted “Tee” (T) shaped slot is formed therebetween said posts and a complementary inverted ½ “Tee” (½ T) shaped opening is formed adjacent to said “Tee”(T) shaped post.
3. The regular hexahedron of claim 2 wherein said plates have a first top length edge and a parallel second top length edge and two width edges wherein said width edges are dimensionally shorter than said length edges.
4. The regular hexahedron of claim 2 wherein said T shaped posts extend beyond the width edges of said top surface in a cantilevered fashion and wherein a first three of said plates have said ½ “Tee” (½ T) shaped post residing adjacent to a first top length edge and a second three of said plates have said ½ “Tee” (½ T) shaped post residing adjacent to a second top length edge such that said first three plates and said second three plates have mirror image exterior post configurations.
5. The regular hexahedron of claim 4 wherein the arrangement of all said plates is such that there is a first common corner shared by all said first three plates and at a diagonal corner of the cube resides a second common corner shared by all second three plates.
6. The regular hexahedron of claim 5 wherein said T posts and ½ T posts are configured as sliding dovetails.
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Type: Grant
Filed: Feb 1, 2008
Date of Patent: Aug 2, 2011
Patent Publication Number: 20080280523
Inventor: Forrest Frederick Bishop (Seattle, WA)
Primary Examiner: Gene Kim
Assistant Examiner: Alyssa M Hylinski
Attorney: Mark S. Hubert
Application Number: 12/012,409
International Classification: A63H 33/04 (20060101); A63H 33/08 (20060101);